Elio Di Rupo (; born 18 July 1951) is a Belgian politician who has served as the
minister-president of Wallonia since 2019. He is affiliated with the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
. Di Rupo previously served as the
prime minister of Belgium
german: Premierminister von Belgien
, insignia = State Coat of Arms of Belgium.svg
, insigniasize = 100px
, insigniacaption = Coat of arms
, insigniaalt =
, flag = Government ...
from 6 December 2011 to 11 October 2014, heading the
Di Rupo Government
The Di Rupo Government was the federal cabinet of Belgium sworn in on 6 December 2011, after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations following the June 2010 elections. The government included social democrats (sp.a/ PS), Christian democrats ...
. He was the first
francophone
French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...
to hold the office since
Paul Vanden Boeynants
Paul Emile François Henri Vanden Boeynants (; 22 May 1919 – 9 January 2001) was a Belgian politician.
Rulers. Retrieved 30 August 2014.< ...
in 1979, and the country's first socialist prime minister since
Edmond Leburton
Edmond Jules Isidore Leburton (18 April 1915 – 15 June 1997) was a Belgium, Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1973 to 1974.
He first entered Parliament representing Huy, Belgium.
Prime Minister of Belgium
...
left office in 1974. Di Rupo was also Belgium's first prime minister of non-Belgian descent, and the world's
second openly gay person and first openly gay man to be head of government in modern times.
Background and early life
Di Rupo was born in
Morlanwelz
Morlanwelz (; wa, Marlanwé) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
On 1 January 2006 Morlanwelz had a total population of 18,595. The total area is 20.26 km2 which gives a population density of 918 inhab ...
,
Wallonia
Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...
, to Italian parents. His father was born in
San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore is a mountain hill town in the province of Pescara, part of the Abruzzo region in central Italy.
Nestled in the Apennines, less than from the Adriatic coast, the medieval town lies on the northern edge of the Na ...
. While Di Rupo was born in Belgium, his brothers and sisters were all born in Italy. When he was one year old, his father died in a car crash and his mother was unable to raise all seven children. Due to the poor financial state of his family, three of his brothers were raised in a nearby orphanage.
When he was 12, he attended boarding school. Due to medical issues, Di Rupo had to re-do his first year of high school twice, but eventually excelled in science at the end of his high school years. This led him to pursue a degree in
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
at the
University of Mons
The University of Mons (french: Université de Mons) is a Belgian university located in the city of Mons, founded in 2009 by merging the Engineering Faculty of Mons (FPMs) and the University of Mons-Hainaut. The merging of the institutions wa ...
, where he eventually obtained a
PhD in Chemistry, after being a part-time lecturer at
Leeds University
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
as well.
Political career
Di Rupo came in contact with the socialist movement for the first time during his studies in
Mons
Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...
, where he first obtained a master's degree and afterwards a PhD in
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
. He went during the preparation of his doctorate to the
University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
(United Kingdom), where his function was that of lecture member of staff in 1977–1978.
He started his political career as an
attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...
at the cabinet of
Jean-Maurice Dehousse
Jean-Maurice Dehousse (born 11 October 1936) is a former Member of the European Parliament who served Belgium between 1999 and 2004 as a member of the Parti Socialiste. He was the first and third Minister-President of Wallonia.
Life
Jean-Mau ...
in 1980–81. His first political mandate came in 1982, when he was Councillor of
Mons
Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...
(until 1985, and again from 1988 until 2000). In 1986, he was mayor of health, urban renewal and social affairs. Professionally, Di Rupo was at the same time cabinet member and then Deputy Head of Cabinet of the minister of finance of that time of the Walloon region and consequently Deputy Head of Cabinet of the minister of finance and energy of the Walloon region at that time
Philippe Busquin
Philippe Busquin (born 6 January 1941) is a Belgian politician.
Busquin was born in Feluy. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009 for the French Community of Belgium with the Parti Socialiste, part of the Socialist Gro ...
(1981–85) and superintendent of the energy-inspection of the ministry of the Walloon region.
He is a deputy (MP) for the
Arrondissement of Mons
The Arrondissement of Mons (french: Arrondissement de Mons; nl, Arrondissement Bergen) is one of the seven administrative arrondissements in the Walloon province of Hainaut, Belgium.
It is both an administrative and a judicial arrondissemen ...
in the
Belgian Chamber of Representatives
The Chamber of Representatives (Dutch: , french: link=no, Chambre des représentants, german: link=no, Abgeordnetenkammer) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered ...
. He once described
François Mitterrand
François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
as being "a character from a novel".
In 2000, he became the mayor of
Mons
Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...
,
which is the capital of the province of
Hainaut.
In 1987, he got his national political breakthrough. He was elected as member of the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
and went two years later for a short time to the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
.
In 1991, Di Rupo was chosen as a senator, but shortly afterwards (1992), he took in the French-speaking community his first ministerial function in Education and later also Media. These were his responsibilities until
Guy Coëme
Guy Coëme (born 21 August 1946) is a Francophone Belgian politician for the Socialist Party (PS).
He served as 5th Minister-President of Wallonia from February to May 1988.
Coëme served as minister of defence in the government Martens VIII an ...
, who was mentioned in the
Agusta-scandal, resigned and Di Rupo went to the federal government in 1994 as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Traffic and Governmental companies. Following the elections in 1995, he remained the Vice-Prime Minister of Belgium and was appointed minister of Economics and Telecommunications. In 1995 he signed the merger of the Belgian airline Sabena with Swiss Air that eventually led to the bankruptcy of Sabena with thousands of unemployed employees as result.
In 1996, at the time of the
Dutroux affair, Olivier Trusgnach, a prostitute, alleged that Di Rupo paid him for sex while Trusgnach was still a minor. This accusation could have meant the end of his political career. Di Rupo denied the accusations.
After the federal and regional elections of June 1999 in which, due to the
Dioxin Affair, the
Christian-Democrats lost many of their votes, Di Rupo negotiated with the Flemish socialists of
sp.a
Vooruit (Dutch for Forward, ) is a Flemish social democratic political party in Belgium. The party was known as the Flemish Socialist Party (1978–2001: ''Socialistische Partij'', SP; 2001–2021: ''Socialistische Partij Anders'', SP.A) until 2 ...
, the
Liberals and
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
to form a "purple-green" government. Di Rupo himself was in charge of the function of minister-president of the Walloon region, but already in October of the same year the members of the party chose him as president and in April 2000, he was succeeded in his function of minister-president by
Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe
Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe (born 28 April 1944 in Charleroi), nicknamed "Van Cau", is a Belgian politician. He is member of the Socialist Party (francophone Belgium), Parti Socialiste (''Socialist Party''; PS). He was the tenth Minister-Preside ...
.
As new president of the party, Di Rupo was forced to make a generation change within the PS and go down a new path. During the regional and federal elections of 1995 and 1999, the PS lost many of its votes, partly because of
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
scandals in the 1990s (named
Agusta-scandal and UNIOP-affair), in which the most prominent PS-politicians were involved. PS had been in the government subsequently since 1988 (in the regional government and in the federal government), but the liberal PRL (now
MR) became in the 1999-elections as strong as the PS. Apart from those two,
Ecolo
Ecolo, officially Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales'', (English: Confederate Ecologists for the Organisation of Original Struggles)'' is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics. The ...
also became an important political party. Di Rupo realised that drastic action was required to regain the position of the PS. By several measures, such as "Contrat d'avenir pour la Wallonie" (Contract for the Future of Wallonia) and a new generation of party leaders, by which
Marie Arena
Marie Arena (born 17 December 1966) is a Belgian politician who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2014. She is a member of the Socialist Party, part of the Party of European Socialists.
Career in national politics ...
was important, he tried to reassemble the left wing-forces around him. Successfully, because in the elections of 2003, PS regained the electoral score of 1991 and was by far the most important political party before
MR. During the regional elections of 2004, it also became the most important party in the Brussels capital region.
![Elio di Rupo-15-12-2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Elio_di_Rupo-15-12-2007.jpg)
Di Rupo changed, in 2004, the liberal coalition partner for the Christian-democratic party, in the Walloon Government and in the Brussels Capital Government (in the last also the green party Ecolo was part of the government). By doing this, coalitions were made which differed from the federal coalition at that time. In October 2005, he became
Minister-President of Wallonia after
Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe
Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe (born 28 April 1944 in Charleroi), nicknamed "Van Cau", is a Belgian politician. He is member of the Socialist Party (francophone Belgium), Parti Socialiste (''Socialist Party''; PS). He was the tenth Minister-Preside ...
resigned amid a corruption scandal, involving several members of Di Rupo's party. He continued as party leader though and has had to deal with the PS's
ICDI affair
This is a list of political scandals in Belgium from 1830 to present.Lieven De Winter, "Political corruption in Belgium." in ''Corruption in Contemporary Politics'' (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2003). 93-105.
List of scandals
* Victor Jacobs af ...
that emerged in May 2006.
In 2006 and 2007, Di Rupo and his party appeared unsuccessful in trying to clean out corruption. This was probably instrumental in the party's losing its first place amongst
French community
The French Community (1958–1960; french: Communauté française) was the constitutional organization set up in 1958 between France and its remaining African colonies, then in the process of decolonization. It replaced the French Union, which ...
parties
2007 federal election
This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...
. Di Rupo then decided to take a firmer stance against corruption in Charleroi: he virtually took control of the city's Socialist Party and ordered the Socialist mayor and
aldermen
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...
to resign.
After former PS president
Guy Spitaels
Guy Gustave Arthur Ghislain Spitaels (3 September 1931 – 21 August 2012) was a Belgian politician of the Socialist Party. He was the 7th Minister-President of Wallonia from 1992 to 1994 and president of his party for thirteen years, until he w ...
urged him to choose between the presidency of the party and of the
Walloon Government
The Walloon Government (french: Gouvernement wallon) or Government of Wallonia (french: Gouvernement de Wallonie) is the executive branch of Wallonia, and it is part of one of the six main governments of Belgium. It sits in Namur, where the Parli ...
, Di Rupo decided to organise internal elections for party president in July 2007 rather than in October of that year and announced that he would resign from his mandate as Minister-President if re-elected. On 11 July 2007, he was re-elected president of the Socialist Party with 89.5% of the votes.
Prime Minister of Belgium
Following the
2010 Belgian general election, in which the PS emerged as the largest of the Francophone parties and the second largest political party in Belgium, speculation emerged as to whether Di Rupo could be the Prime Minister in a
new government. The
RTBF
The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...
raised questions, however, about whether Di Rupo's limited fluency in Dutch would be a stumbling block in seeking that office; every prime minister since 1979 had been a
Fleming.
In May 2011, he was appointed
Formateur
A formateur (French for "someone who forms, who constitutes") is a politician who is appointed to lead the formation of a coalition government, after either a general election or the collapse of a previous government. The role of the formateur is ...
by King
Albert II, which gave Di Rupo the task of forming a government. Traditionally, the Formateur also becomes the Prime Minister of the government he forms. He became prime minister of the
Di Rupo I Government
The Di Rupo Government was the federal cabinet of Belgium sworn in on 6 December 2011, after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations following the June 2010 elections. The government included social democrats ( sp.a/ PS), Christian democrats ...
on 6 December 2011.
With Di Rupo's appointment, Belgium ended 589 days without a government, believed to be the longest such streak ever for a country in the developed world.
Yves Leterme
Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (; born 6 October 1960 in Wervik) is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium, from November 2009 to December 2011.
Leterme was the ...
had resigned on 26 April 2010 and had been serving as caretaker prime minister since then.
Board of directors
Between 2004 and 2005, Elio Di Rupo was on the
board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
of what was then
Dexia
Dexia N.V./S.A., or the Dexia Group, is a Franco-Belgian financial institution formed in 1996. At its peak in 2010, it had about 35,200 members of staff and a core shareholders' equity of €19.2 billion.
In 2008, the bank entered severe ...
bank, currently
Belfius
Belfius Bank and Insurance, known as Dexia Bank Belgium up until 1 March 2012, is a for-profit PLC founded to meet local authority needs. Belfius emerged from the dismantling of the Dexia group, of which it was part until 10 October 2011, when it ...
.
Personal life
Di Rupo describes himself as an "
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
,
rationalist, and
Freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
."
He is fluent in
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
,
French and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. After becoming Prime Minister, he took
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
lessons to address his previous limited fluency in the language and this improved enough for him to be able to address the parliament in Dutch and conduct TV interviews in the language.
Di Rupo
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
as
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
in 1996, and when asked by a confrontational "media pack" if he was gay, he responded, "Yes. So what?"
He is the
first openly gay man to lead a sovereign state, and the first openly gay person to win the position through an election.
Between Di Rupo's election and 2013, he was one of the only three openly gay or lesbian national
heads of government
The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...
, the other ones being Icelandic Prime Minister
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (; born 4 October 1942) is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 2009 to 2013. She became active in the trade union movement, serving as an officer.
Elected as an MP from 1978 to 2013, ...
, and Luxemburgish Prime Minister
Xavier Bettel
Xavier Bettel (; born 3 March 1973) is a Luxembourger lawyer and politician serving as Prime Minister of Luxembourg since 2013. He was previously a member of the Chamber of Deputies (1999–2013) and Mayor of Luxembourg City (2011–2013).
Bett ...
.
Honours
* Belgium: Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of Leopold II
The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgi ...
by royal decree of 21 May 2014.
See also
*
List of the first LGBT holders of political offices
This is a list of political offices which have been held by a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person, with details of the first such holder of each office. It should only list people who came out as LGBT before or during their terms in offi ...
*
List of openly LGBT heads of government
This is a list of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans (LGBT) people who have been the head of state or government of a country or a subnational division such as a state, a province, or a territory. Openly LGBT people have served as a national ...
Notes
References
Visite à domicileInterview with Di Rupo in French (17 May 2007)
Hilariteit om bizarre tweet van Elio Di Rupo Tweeting behaviour of Elio Di Rupo (in Dutch), published on 17 March 2013 in
De Standaard
''De Standaard'' (meaning ''The Standard'' in English) is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Mediahuis (formerly Corelio and VUM). It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and F ...
External links
*
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, -
, -
, -
, -
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Rupo, Elio
1951 births
Living people
Recipients of the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II
Belgian atheists
Belgian chemists
Belgian Ministers of State
Belgian people of Italian descent
Belgian socialists
Belgian Freemasons
Former Roman Catholics
Gay politicians
Government ministers of Belgium
LGBT heads of government
LGBT politicians from Belgium
Mayors of places in Belgium
Members of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
Members of the Senate (Belgium)
Ministers-President of Wallonia
Socialist Party (Belgium) MEPs
Prime Ministers of Belgium
21st-century Belgian politicians
LGBT mayors
LGBT legislators
Gay scientists